Isaac Wins
by Rozzlynn
Summary: What would become of the gods if a human were to obtain truly infinite power?


AN: This post-game oneshot was originally submitted to Golden Sun Fanfiction (the archive linked to Golden Sun Realm) a few years ago. I've edited it a bit since then; this version should be somewhat better.

14/10/12: Edited again, new summary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun; it belongs to Nintendo/Camelot.

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Isaac Wins

Isaac stared in disbelief at the ashes of his defeated foe. It couldn't mean... It was all his?

"We said that... it wouldn't happen. Nobody... ever become too..." Whispering, Isaac winced at the pain it caused his scorched throat. After a moment of frustration, the pain from his injuries lifted completely - to his considerable surprise. Resting his head in his arms, Isaac only wished he could go without giving it any thought. "Nobody would ever become too powerful. We wouldn't let you claim the golden sun, we wouldn't... let anyone... Peace would reign unbroken, if we had any say in the matter. And now, reality bends infinitely to my will?" It made no sense. He didn't want this. He hadn't _asked_ to be attacked, to have to kill again... Venus, he didn't want this! "You were crazy. I can't... I'm sorry. If you'd only listened, I... I can't be... The things you said... Please tell me you were just crazy, Alex! Please..."

It occurred to Isaac that a dead man was unlikely to tell him anything. Then he could have sworn he saw the ashes stir and heard the wind whisper - but before it could get any further than "_I_...", Isaac was long gone.

Leaning against the bridge a few miles from the camp, not really ready to go and tell his teammates what had happened, Isaac wondered for a moment whethet he ought to throw himself from it and let the canyon below keep the wielder of the golden sun from causing any irreparable harm to '_this fragile world_'... But he couldn't. Jenna would never forgive him. Isaac closed his eyes. If it were possible to never make a mistake, never hurt anyone weaker than him - at least, never make _another_ mistake, because how many had he made so far? He opened his eyes, and watched Jenna stumbling as she left the elemental star chamber, Kraden glaring indignantly at their captors - that was one, wasn't it? Unless you could excuse it on the grounds that everything had turned out for the best (this was the _best?!_), and might not have otherwise. As he looked around, he caught a glimpse of Karst's last words, whispered to Felix as he knelt beside her, clutching her hand in a white-knuckled grip, though Isaac couldn't see their faces this time, and should '_died in vain_' shimmer such a pale shade of time, or would it look a little deeper if he caught more than a glimpse? Not that he wanted to... His eyes fixed upon an old sword of his, still dripping. Stepping up to the center of the Venus Lighthouse aerie, ignoring all the stares fixed on his back and all the shocked words the nearby Adepts' minds and mouths could muster, Isaac gazed at the warriors that fell far below his feet and wondered whether that counted as a mistake too.

"What would you think now, if you knew?" Isaac asked Saturos, hovering beside him - there was no point falling, it looked like a sickening drop.

"Wha...?" Menardi's voice shimmered forth from behind him, and as Isaac wondered at how she managed to communicate her question so well in less than a word, he squinted at Saturos, who seemed to be dead, not ignoring him. Better not wake him.

"I mean..." Isaac raised a hand and gestured toward the children playing on the frozen river. Menardi's mother sniffed as she passed the kids, still red-eyed - though she always had been, like the others there, hadn't she? - but she looked up at the sky, tucking a strand of grey hair behind her ear, and the sight of weak sunlight shining down brought a weak smile to her face.

Turning back to Menardi, he was a bit concerned to see her gripping her scythe for dear life, glancing back and forth with no lack of disorientation hovering about her. Isaac considered giving her a minute, but she'd get one even if he didn't hand it over.

"Prox might yet be saved?" Menardi asked, hope dawning in her voice. "What must I do? I will not fail again!"

Isaac realized, with some annoyance, that she thought this was some sort of divine intervention - she didn't realize he was really him. And the children had started to point and whisper, wide-eyed at the sight of such unexpected visitors, but as soon as Isaac felt a twist of unease about what that meant, the children hadn't noticed them yet, and without knowing quite what else to do, he tried to put it from his mind.

"It's safe already," Isaac told her. "We finished lighting the beacons a few weeks ago. We've been trying to rebuild since then, but today, while I was out on my own... I didn't want to fight him. I told him I didn't want to fight him. I've just saved the world, there shouldn't have been – there was no need – what is this? What _is_ this?"

"You?" Menardi sneered, having re-oriented herself enough to look down on him again.

"Yeah, I'm your hero," Isaac sighed. Would she ever have believed that he would be the one to save her people?

"My hero..." Menardi muttered breathlessly, falling to her knees.

"What? Ah, no, scratch that, I'm not..." Isaac closed his eyes, praying for... anything. How could anyone possess the golden sun without becoming the only person in the world with real power? Compared to this, everyone else... He could feel their lives aching and fluttering around him, so fragile... Would he be able to learn better discipline, to set the boundaries between imagining and considering and wishing and willing anything into being? He wanted to talk to his friends, but he wasn't sure what that would do to them. He knew he hadn't seen himself at Venus Lighthouse the first time, and if Menardi didn't die, or if she'd be dead again in a second if he thought she ought to be... He'd possessed infinite power for less than five minutes and he was worried he might have already broken something irreplaceable. "I can't do this, oh Venus, I can't do this, please..."

Isaac felt a heavenly hand touch his shoulder. Such serene strength. All was still; all was stable. Looking up into the eyes of the Goddess Venus, Isaac smiled in adoration and awe, suddenly able to believe that everything might still be all right. The Goddess would not let Her children suffer.

"You're still more powerful than me, aren't you?" Isaac asked, needing it to be true. "Limitless can't really mean limitless..."

Isaac closed his eyes again, hoping Her hand might never lift. He could bask in Her presence forever, if only he were allowed.

"I don't need you to answer, as long as you really are above me, as you've always been." The thought that She might answer him was unbearable, a loss too perverse to untangle, and it led Isaac to add a whispered request, as sincere as the rest of his prayer. "So please don't..."


End file.
